The Third Parties by MissTeak

The Fourth Party in the Triangle

Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha. But then again, the one I wish to own is Sesshoumaru.

A/N: I should not be starting a new story, but here’s another one that decided to pop up in my head. Other works such as Wisteria is still well in the works; partly because I have yet to develop the full plot for it, hence the temporary hiatus. Please bear with me as I work on it; it would not take too long.

Anyway, this new story here will be dealing with the painful situation of two overlapping love triangles. I am going to portray this story mainly from Sesshoumaru’s perspective, which is something new for me. I believe it will elicit some emotions which some of us might have felt at least once in our lives, and I hope you will all enjoy this realistic (hopefully) portrayal of relationships.

The Third Parties

Chapter 1: The fourth party in the triangle

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“Happy birthday, Inuyasha!”

Whatever.

I pulled the string to the party popper dutifully, and my first task for the evening was fulfilled.

Inuyasha gave a startled cry as the other members of our family and close friends emerged from their various hiding places all over the living room, dropping his briefcase rather unceremoniously in his surprise. The “happy birthday” chorus soon evolved into a loud and rowdy birthday song when his girlfriend of three years, Kikyou, emerged from the kitchen with a homemade dark chocolate mousse cake in her hands.

The candles on the cake cast flickering shadows on her face, where a sweet smile was worn, and the birthday boy recovered from his shock soon enough to realize what was going on. He laughed, pulling the strands of streamers and colored tape out from his hair before someone put a rather stupid-looking party hat on his head.

The others, still shrouded in the shadows of the darkened interior, clapped and sang along as they shifted to make way for Kikyou.

Walking over to his girlfriend, Inuyasha returned her smile with one of his own, before giving her an affectionate peck on the cheek. He was obviously enjoying the attention, and appreciating the efforts she put in for his surprise party.

The song died, and momentary silence ensued.

“Happy birthday, Inuyasha.” Kikyou said, before thunderous applause erupted. “Make a wish.”

“Thanks guys!” Inuyasha inclined his head customarily at all the smiling faces crowding around him. “And you too, darling. Thank you for planning this.”

Kikyou nodded in acknowledgement of his gratitude, and extended the cake further in his direction so he could make a wish and blow the candles out.

Closing his eyes, he made his wish as almost everyone else in the room watched with smiling faces.

What was he wishing for?

What else could he be wishing for? I wondered cynically, though my face did not reveal any trace of my inner cynicism.

His eyes opened, and the smiles around him got wider.

He blew the candles out.

There was tumultuous applause and cheering once again, and I silently walked over to where the switches for the lights were, playing the role of the background character.

I switched the lights on, and duty number two was smoothly fulfilled.

I watched stonily as my half-brother raised his hand for attention and silence, before launching into a thank you speech, going on and on about the most clichéd things like how glad he was for having friends who cared.

Rolling my eyes would be a waste of time and energy.

“…and finally, I would like to thank my beloved girlfriend, Kikyou. You are the best girlfriend any man could ever ask for, and I am only too lucky to be able to find you among so many people…”

I turned away, and walked into the kitchen.

My stepmother Izayoi apparently noticed that, and she soon entered the kitchen. “Sesshoumaru?”

She knew Inuyasha was not exactly my favorite person on earth, but Izayoi had always been rather nice and caring towards me, so I try not to upset her. It was Inuyasha whom I disliked, not his mother.

Feigning interest in the party food laid out on the kitchen counter, I casually picked a tuna mayo sandwich up, popping it into my mouth.

“Feeling hungry?” She asked with a kindly maternal smile, and I nodded. It was a good to deliberately keep my mouth full; I did not wish to talk too much, lest I reveal things I’d never want her to hear of.

Picking a paper plate up, she placed pieces of salmon sushi, raw squid sushi and avocado shrimp temaki hand-rolls on it. “You should try this,” She smiled, passing me the plate. “I spent the entire afternoon preparing the sushi platter. Go on, try it and tell me if it’s good. Wasabi for you?”

I nodded. That’s something I like about Izayoi, though we are not exactly very close. She knows when to change the conversation topic to lighten the atmosphere, something I appreciate in people since I never ever liked it when they probed into my feelings.

In other words, the reason why I got along with Izayoi despite she being the cause of my parents’ divorce was the fact that she knew the right thing to do at the right time.

That was unfortunately, not a trait her son possessed.

He never knew what was right to do, yet he always expected others to do things right for him.

I took a bite of the skillfully-prepared avocado shrimp hand-roll, appreciative of the refreshing blend of creamy avocado, slightly salty shrimp and the light vinegar fragrance of the rice. The toasted seaweed used to wrap it added a crisp texture.

That was another thing I liked about Izayoi; she possessed excellent culinary skills.

“How is it?” She smiled expectantly, awaiting my response.

I chewed and swallowed. “Very good.”

“Grade it, with ten as full marks.”

“9.5,” I replied, watching her smile widen. She was obviously pleased I enjoyed it, and I decided I should humor my stepmother before she started fussing over me. “The other 0.5 would be awarded if you could get me another one.”

Her smile was almost contagious, and it wasn’t before long when I received another expertly rolled temaki hand roll on my plate along with a cup of warmed rice wine. She left surrounded in a cloud of Elizabeth Arden’s Green Tea scent spray, and I was left alone in the corner of kitchen, watching as everyone else mingled around making meaningless small talk.

I ate in silence. Inuyasha was moving from group to group of friends with a glass of orange juice in his hands, doing his part in entertaining his guests as the birthday boy.

He always loved white wine, and we definitely had white wine at home down in the cellar. That just proved one thing – he was going to do what I expected him to.

And not quite coincidentally, what she expected him to do as well.

Kikyou chose to walk into the kitchen then, holding a small paper plate with a slice of the dark chocolate mousse cake she had painstakingly prepared.

“Cake for you, Sesshoumaru?”

I couldn’t possibly say no, right?

“Sure.”

She passed the plate over. “Thank you for helping out earlier. I hope you’re having a good time.”

“You’re welcome. It’s nothing much, really.” Which was true, considering all I had to do to ‘help’ was pull the string on the party popper and turn on the lights after Inuyasha blew the candles out. “Nice party, by the way.”

“I am glad you think so,” Kikyou smiled, though the smile did not exactly reach her eyes. She leaned against the refrigerator, obviously intending to talk to me.

“You know, I somehow feel Inuyasha is not really too excited about it. Maybe I shouldn’t have made it a surprise party.”

Surprise, surprise.

“Why’d you think that way?”

She sighed inaudibly, disappointment evident in her eyes. “He told me he had to leave in ten minutes’ time. Something about work, apparently…said he had to go back to the office to get something done urgently, and would be working till late. What am I supposed to tell the others who took time off to come to this party? I am so mad at him but I somehow know I should not be, since it is work we’re talking about.”

Her quiet voice was a stark contrast to the raucous laughter out in the living room. Did people really have that much to say to the likes of Inuyasha?

I did not know what to do or say in the face of Kikyou’s disappointment, especially when I only knew too well where he’d be heading.

“I know work is important, but…” She started, before words failed her and she just gave me a resigned smile. Shrugging her shoulders, she walked over to where the bathroom at the back of the kitchen was. The door bathroom clicked shut, and I took it as my cue to leave the kitchen, my evacuation shelter in this misery I had to live through.

I had duty number three to fulfill.

Ironically, it was the only one I genuinely cared about.

Ignoring curious looks as I silently walked by Inuyasha without a trace of a smile, I briskly ascended the steps to my room on the third level. Entering and locking the door behind me, I picked my cell phone up and instinctively dialed the number I was too used to dialing.

It rang only twice, before her sweet, feminine voice was heard over the phone.

“Hello?”

I could hear her anticipation and excitement clearly from her voice. There was slow, romantic music playing in the background.

Ignoring the twinge in my heart, I said, “He’s leaving in ten minutes.”

The smile that must have lit up her beautiful features was practically in front of my eyes. I stared down at Inuyasha’s BMW from my spot by the window – he hadn’t even bothered to park it properly, evident of his intention to leave the house.

“Thank you, Sesshoumaru. I should start grilling the steak now,” She said gratefully. “Thank you so much for doing me this favor.”

Her gratitude and excitement only managed to exacerbate the discomfort somewhere in my chest.

“Yeah.”

That was all I could manage.

Momentary silence ensued, and it was awkward, as much as I’d hate to admit it.

I continued staring at the BMW in the driveway.

She drew a deep breath, obviously trying to end the conversation as naturally as she could. “So…I think I have to go-”

“Kagome.” I said abruptly.

“Yes?”

I wanted to say, ‘no, please stop doing this’ or ‘why? Is he worth it? What did he do to deserve you?’, but words failed me.

They always did, which was why we were all caught in this anguished situation which never failed to kill off parts of our hearts, bit by bit.

“…no, nothing.”

A knowing silence on her part, and I knew she knew very well what I wanted to say.

But she chose to feign ignorance.

“I shall get going then. Thank you Sesshoumaru, you’re the best.” She said almost inaudibly with the sentimental music in the background. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

I switched my cell phone off, knowing full well that there would no longer be any incoming messages or calls from her that night, not when she would most probably be enjoying a candlelight dinner and spending the night with him whispering sweet nothings in her ear.

He didn’t deserve her.

I couldn’t say I did – she was too perfect and lovely – but he definitely didn’t.

I know very well I should be firm with her, perhaps coming clear with how I feel and perhaps, hoping she could see sense and leave Inuyasha before it escalates into a scenario which would hurt both Kikyou and herself.

But whenever she came to me for favors like this, I could never bear to refuse or ignore her. In some odd way, I would rather do something for her though it would kill a part of me, rather than witness her disappointment. That was partly because Inuyasha was the reason she interacted so much with me for – if their underground relationship ceased to exist, so would the Kagome-Sesshoumaru dependency.

I felt screwed up.

I tried telling myself countless of times that if I focused on everything wrong about my feelings for her, I might finally do something right.

For one, she was in love with my half-brother and I knew the feelings were mutual, so perhaps I should give up.

Secondly, she only contacted me regularly not because I truly mattered that much to her. Rather, I was the only way by which she could find out more about Inuyasha’s day-to-day activities.

These two reasons should have been good enough, but no.

In ten minutes, perhaps five, Inuyasha would be breaking a heart to please one.

And the vicious cycle would repeat itself, with him breaking the latter to mend the former eventually. He would leave Kagome inevitably crying alone after spending that one hour with her in her bed, before calling an equally crushed Kikyou on his cell phone while driving back home, entertaining her with fancy tales of his “overtime work”.

That was the typical pattern of the triangle they were in.

How he could bear to this to the two women who love him was beyond me. Neither Kagome nor Kikyou deserved this.

And I was the fourth party in this triangle. I was the imaginary angle in the possible quadrangle, hovering aimlessly, trying to strike a linear relationship with the point known as Higurashi Kagome.

Who was already caught up in a triangle with Inuyasha and Kikyou.

This was wrong. Utterly, hopelessly wrong.

Yet I found myself switching my cell phone on again.

As the start-up display appeared on the screen, I was once again reminded of the reasons why she wouldn’t contact me that night. I closed my eyes at the hurt of knowing how willingly she would once again surrender her body and soul to Inuyasha.

Over and over again, allowing him to take and never give or promise anything in return.

But I kept my phone switched on.

Just in case she needed me.

Just in case she might need me.

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To be continued…